I'll Cover You
by Lemony Apple
Summary: Joanna Rourke was a girl that had trouble caring about anything except her dog... until she decided to dress up like a boy and met the Newsies, and learned there was so much to care about. OC&K.B. Not horrible, I SWEAR. Please R&R!
1. Prologue

I'll Cover You

A Newsies Fan Fiction

By Lemony Apple

_I think they meant it when they said you can't buy love  
Now I know you can rent it, a new lease you are my love  
On life, all my life  
I've longed to discover something as true as this is, yeah  
So with a thousand sweet kisses,  
If you're cold and you're lonely  
I'll cover you  
With a thousand sweet kisses,  
You've got one nickel only  
I'll cover you  
With a thousand sweet kisses,  
When you're worn out and tired  
With a thousand sweet kisses  
When your heart has expired_

--"I'll Cover You (Reprise)" from RENT

* * *

"_You're fired!"_

Those were the last words my boss said to me that day he forced me to go home.

"You're fired!" It was so convenient that he fired me right when I needed my job at the factory the most—at the end of the month—rent time.

"Whaddaya think, Jesse?" I said to my dog after taking a long drag on my cigarette. "Do you think we can pay our rent this month?"

Jesse whined pitifully for such a big dog. I understood his whine.

"I agree, baby." I put the cigarette to my lips and inhaled once more. I released a long plume of smoke into the night air, and it curled into intricate shapes and forms before finally being absorbed into the dirty atmosphere of New York City.

"I don't think so either." Jesse rested his muzzle on my leg and I buried my fingers into his warm, yellow fur. He was soothing.

All my life, Jesse had been my constant companion. We never left each other's sight. He had been, well, sort of like my father. I had never known my parents. I grew up in a squalid orphanage, and then after running away, I found Jesse.

We'd been living in a horrible one-room shack ever since. And now it was the end of the month-- time to pay the rent.

I was hardly making ends meet as it was… and now, it was almost certain that we would be living out on the streets. I needed to find some way to get some cash, fast.

"TROLLEY STRIKE DRAGS ON FOR ANOTHER DAY!" A newsie with an eye patch shouted from down below. Someone bought a paper from him, and boy continued to shout out the day's headline.

Normally I would have ignored the annoying sounds of the Newsies, but this time the din gave me an idea. It was a relatively simple job, selling newspapers, it made money, and also, it was a job. It would allow me to keep Jesse close to me.

So what if Newsies were only boys? I could pretend to be a boy. It wouldn't be hard. I wanted to be an actress, after all.

So those were my reasons for dressing up like a boy the next day.. and becoming a newsie.

* * *

**AUTHORS NOTE**--- 

Hehe.. hey guys. Sorry this chapter was so short… but you gotta remember, it's a prologue, 'kay? I swear, the next chapter will kick butt! Yah! So… okay, please be kind?

AND REVIEW?


	2. Live in My House

"I'll Cover You"

By Lemony Apple

Chapter 1- Live in My House

"_Only the educated are free._"

--Epictetus

* * *

I couldn't stop feeling my newly cropped hair in a sort of shocked disbelief that I was actually doing this. My hair, the hair I was so proud of, was cut off and sold to a wigmaker, and now that I had wrapped my chest and was dressed in men's clothes… 

I was a boy now. Joanna Rourke was no more, at least for now. At the end of the month, when I had gathered enough money to pay for my rent, I would let my hair grow back and disappear from the newsies world, and continue my dream of becoming an actress on a real, legitimate stage.

I had to make a name for myself. I would call myself Jonathan. If they asked for my surname, I would simply say that I never had one. I would say I was an orphan (which was true) and that Jesse was my constant companion (which was also true). Anything else I would keep my mouth shut about, or would lie.

I reviewed this plan I went to go join the newsies collecting their daily papes. Jesse trailed behind me, in his mouth the cap I had bought last night.

"All right, Jess," I said, kneeling down to him. "Lemme have it." Jesse dropped the hat into my hands and I put it on quickly.

I was eager to get my money and leave, to get this intolerable situation finished as soon as possible.

I had been eager that I had arrived at least a half an hour before the gates opened, yet there was a large group of boys at the gates, energetic and ready to go.

Jesse started into the crowd first, wagging his tail and sniffing the air, as if trying to find something he liked.

"Jess!" I tried to call him back, but he ignored me and ran head first into the group of boys. "Jesse!" I fruitlessly called again, and chased after him.

This was _not_ how I was planning to make my entrance.

"Dear me!" A rather short, goofy-looking boy cried just in the range of my hearing. "What is that unpleasant aroma? I fear the sewer may have backed up in the night." He slapped the face of a very handsome boy with an eye patch next to him, good-naturedly.

Were they talking about me? How inexcusably rude of them. I didn't smell like the sewer at all.

"Nah, it's too rotten to be the sewer." A smaller boy interjected, holding back laughter. The newsies all around them were all laughing freely, especially the newsie with the eye patch. He looked so familiar.

Was _this_ how they treated green newsies? God, I wanted a cigarette.

A boy in the backwith a crutch in the back piped up. "Yeah! It must be the Delancey brothas!"

Delancey? Who? I looked behind me to see two of the most disagreeable young men I had ever the displeasure to behold.

Their faces etched in ugly, intimidating frowns, like they had never smiled their entire lives. The brothers loomed over the newsies like a cocky overseer amongst slaves.

The taller one grabbed the littlest newsie. "In the back, you lousy little shrimp," and pushed him away from the gate so hard the poor child fell flat on his face.

Jesse came barreling down to my side, wagging his tail as if he had finally found home in Newsies Square.

The boywith a cowboy hat helped the smallest newsie up.

He was so handsome; he even made the boy who had the patch over his eye pale in comparison. Patch Boy's handsome was more passionate, while the defender was dreamier-like… it was hard to describe.

"You shouldn't be callin' people lousy little shrimps, Oscar, unless you're referrin' to the family resemblance here."

I snickered despite myself.

"It's an insult… well, then again…" The defender moseyed on over to the Delanceys?

Yeah, that sounded right. Delanceys.

"Then again, so is this."

He took the brother's hat and ran for it…

And right at me!

I gasped as the cowboy-hat-wearing-boy dodged me at the last moment, but the Delancey brothers knocked me down flat.

"Out of the way, Skinny!" they growled, pushing past me like I was nothing more than a leaf.

Jesse growled at them, and gave a rather ferocious bark at the brothers for knocking me down.

Newsies swarmed all around me, totally ignoring me. Well, at least my pretending to be a boy worked out all right.

"You alright, Skinny?" I looked up and squinted in the bright sun. Was that person talking to me? It was Patch Boy. Well, I guess he was talking to me. He was looking down at me.

"Me? Yeah."

He extended his hand and I took it. He practically threw me up on and onto my feet. "Who were those jerks?"

"Oscar and Morris Delancey. The scum of the earth."

"And the kid their chasin'?" I asked, while shaking off the dirt on my cap.

"HIM?" The boy stared at me like I had just told him I was Martha Washington. "That's Jack Kelly, the most famous newsie in New York. How could you not know about Jack Kelly?"

There were celebrity newsies? This guy must hero-worship Jack Kelly if he made such a big deal about me not knowing who he was.

Oh. And then I remembered.

That was the newsie that conned me into buying a paper by assuring me that there was an article teaching people how to read in that issue.

I didn't understand I had been conned until I had arrived home. I went out onto the fire escape and I chain smoked for about an hour and a half.

"Oh," I said, slightly a bit more interested. If I stayed with Jack, my purse would surely be full in no time.

"You couldn't be a newsie for long and not know about Jack Kelly." Patch-Kid said, still looking at me oddly. "What's your name?" He said that slowly.

"Joann—I mean, _Jonathan._" I said, almost breaking character. "You?"

"Kid Blink." His face exploded into passionate delight. "Are you new?" I don't recognize you. I'll show you the ropes if you'd like."

I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could utter a word of either accent or of refusal, Jack came barreling out of nowhere and almost knocked me down again.

Kid Blink ignored me this time, and bounded off to go and cheer on Jack.

"YOU GOT EM, COWBOY!"

I was pushed away as boys once again frolicked to greet Jack Kelly in his moment of triumph. He was on top of the factory gates of _The World_.

It reminded me of a prince looking down at his subjects.

Jack smiled down at the crowd as they chanted his name. The crowd loved him.

The gate opened suddenly and the Newsies spilled into the factory.

Somehow Kid Blink found Jesse and I in the crowd and I fell into line behind him.

Kid was explaining how to buy 'papes' from the factory, but I was secretly panicking inside.

Oh, God, why didn't I think of it before? I had forgotten…

I couldn't read.

I felt like I was gunna heave.

* * *

AN- Heyyy guys! Thanks for your reviews so far. They mean a lot to me… so please, keep 'em coming! 


	3. I'll Be Your Shelter

I'll Cover You

Chapter 2

"The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money."

-Mark Twain

* * *

"Fifty papes, Weasel," Kid Blink said to the man behind the counter.

The man grumbled, "Fifty papes for Patchy-Boy," he said to a Delancey, who agitatedly pulled out Kid Blink's papers.

"It's Kid Blink," he corrected, sounding more than just a little annoyed.

"Sure, sure, whatever you'd like," Weasel said, rubbing his hands over his chin.

God, he looked greasy.

"What's this here, Patchy-boy?" Delancey Number One said, completely disregarding Kid Blink's statement about his name. "New blood, eh?"

Was he talking about me?

"First day as a newsie," Kid Blink replied for me.

"Wassyername?" Weasel said, slurring the words together. Again, a feeling of greasiness.

"Jon-," I started to announce, but Kid Blink finished my sentence yet again.

"We call him 'Skinny,' cause that's what he is." Kid said, carefully counting the stack of papers.

"You look like a girl." Delancey sniffed..

Jesse growled, but it was Kid Blink who saved me; he grabbed me by the collar and pulled me away from the counter.

"He isn't one," Kid Blink snarled, grabbing the papers and starting to walk away, still holding me by the collar. "And if you ever say that again, I'll come in and soak ya."

Kid handed fifteen papes to a boy next to him. "Whaddaya say, Blink?" He said, plopping down on the wagom covered in hay. "Bummin' it tonight?" He handed Kid some coins.

"Lemme look at the merchandise first," Kid said, counting again. "This is Mush," he said off-handedly, not looking at either of us. "You met Skinny yet?"

"Stop calling me that!" I growled, getting more and more annoyed with the name they branded me.

"My name is _Jonathan,_ not Skinny,"

But Mush was paying no more attention to me than Kid Blink was.

Instead, he spat into his palm and offered it to me.

I stared at it. The hell was I supposed to do with it?

I looked over at Kid Blink, who was still counting. Maybe he wanted a handkerchief…?

"You do the same thing," Mush explained slowly, like I was a complete idiot.

So… I spat into my hand and offered it to him to do whatever the hell he wanted to do with it. He grabbed my outstretched hand and pumped it up and down.

Oh. A handshake.

He released my hand. Uch! It was still slimy. When Mush wasn't looking, I wiped my hand on my trousers. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kid laughing at me.

"Here, Skinny," He said, handing me twenty papes. "A gift on your first day of being a newsie."

"I don't need charity; Jess and I can get along fine-,"

"Shut up, hold on," Mush said, gesturing for us to stop. "Jack's taking on somebody,"

"So what do ya say, Les? You wanna sell papes with me?" Jack Kelly was talking to a boy, who was petting Jesse but looking at Jack like all of his wildest dreams had come true.

"Yeah!" He was practically jumping up and down.

"Wait!" All heads turned to face an uncommonly nerdy looking boy. "It's gotta be at least fifty-fifty."

Jack considered this. "Sixty-forty, or I forget the whole thing."

"That's fair," Kid mumbled, along with just about half of the newsies.

"Golden opportunity." Mush nodded.

I paid no need and stared at the words on the page. They looked so foreign. How could they be the same as the words I spoke every day?

Suddenly everyone was laughing.

"Come on, Skin," Mush hollered, already at the gate. I rushed forward to Kid, racing for something familiar.

Jesse lollopped behind me, clearly enjoying being there, and feeling none of my misery.

"Hey you!" Weasel shouted at me. "_World_ employees don't include dogs!"

"Oh, fuck off." I tossed back at him.

* * *

"The name of the game is volume, Dave. You only do twenty papes. Why?" Jack was talking to Nerdy-Boy, who was apparently named David.

"Bad headline," was his retort.

Hey, at least you can read, buddy.

"That's the first thing you gotta learn. Headlines don't sell papes. Newsies sell papes."

Kid Blink nodded energetically.

"Without the newsies, nobody knows nothing," Jack added.

"Tell 'em, Jack," Kid encouraged him. "Nobody knows- whoa!"

Fifty caps were pulled off as a pretty brunette passed by.

"God, look at that angel," Kid whispered to me. "Mayor's daughter, isn't she?"

Oh God. Lena Van Wyck. The stuff of male fantasies… or so I was told.

"Yeah," I said. "That's her."

"I'm in heaven." Mush said.

What was the matter with these guys? See some drippy debutante and they fall all over themselves?

I glared at her, and somehow our eyes connected in the crowd… it wasn't hard to spot me. I was, after all, the only one who still had their cap on.

She swallowed and looked away quickly, like my gaze had burned her. She practically ran away.

There was a moment of silence where many a newsboy around me emitted a sort of wistful sigh.

Then—"Baby born with three heads!"

I t was back to business. Quickly, I listened for any headline that I might sell, but I could only hear the 'baby' one.

"We're going to Central Park," Kid yelled over the din to Mush.

"Bottle Alley. Bye!" He split.

When we arrived, many newsies had already staked their claim on spots.

"Can't sell to close to them," He muttered. "Better do it by the Angel of the Waters,"

* * *

Kid was a wonderful seller- he juggled his papes, he did dances- he increased the amount of heads the baby was born with, and the people positively ate it up.

He sold out quickly, where as I hadn't sold a damn one. "Baby… born with... a head…" I said, desperately trying to remember what Kid was doing.

He laughed at me again, and yet again I felt a sensation of something like hatred for the patched boy.

"No, lemme show you, Jon," He said, relieving me of my papes. He lifted them out of my reach.

"Gimme back my papes, you bastard!" I stood on my tippy toes to try to reach.

Then I tried the jump-and-reach technique. Even Jesse was jumping for the newspapers.

To tell the truth, it was drawing quite a crowd.

"Give me back my papes, you bully!"

"Oh, give the poor boy back his papes," cooed an old lady with too much pomade on.

"Shameful," said a mother. "A big boy like that picking on a poor little thing!"

Satisfied with my response to his bullying, Kid threw down the papes onto the ground, and walked around the corner, being sure to leave a huge, messy footprint on one.

I collapsed on the ground, sitting and sniffling. Jesse curled up beside me, crying.

"Oh, poor thing!" A young wife said. "Are you alright? Here." She gave me a nickel. "Take this."

My mouth dropped, and slowly, incredulously, I handed her five papes.

* * *

I was sold out within minutes.

Kid Blink came running back around the corner, laughing. "Works like a charm!"

"You… _knew_ they'd do that?"

"Sure! Everyone newsie pulls that stunt."

I stared at him. What should I have done? Thank him? Jesse and I didn't need his charity. We would have sold those papes…

…eventually.

Still… better to be polite. Even if I didn't mean it.

"Thank you."

There was a sort of pregnant silence.

Finally, Kid Blink laughed it off again. "Well, that's what friends are for, innit? Come back to the boarding house with me…"

I stepped back from him. "Friends?"

"Yeah, friends."

"Who said we were friends?" I said, insulted.

"Well, that's what we are, isn't it?" Kid said, beginning to look crestfallen.

"The only person I need is Jesse. I don't need you or any other person!" I yelled. Jesse whined, pawing my trousers. I bent down and cradled his head in my arms. "We were doing just fine without you."

There was another extremely uncomfortable pause.

"Excuse me." Kid said, hurt definitely in his voice. "Next time I see a guy who doesn't know what to do, I'll make sure Weasel screws him over. You owe me ten cents."

I handed over half of my earnings.

"Have fun carrying the banner." He said, coldly and evenly. "Don't sleep in a trash can."

He turned and left me all alone.


	4. Just Pay Me Back

I'll Cover You

Chapter 3

**To err is human; to forgive, infrequent. **

**-Franklin P. Adams **

* * *

In shock, I had stared at Kid Blink until he left me. I was horrified with how he had treated me.

_Well, excuse me for not wanting to be friends_.

I looked down at Jesse. His brown eyes looked up at me in almost pity. Like he was disappointed with me.

"What?" I snapped. Jesse whined, still looking at me with his huge brown eyes. "We're fine as we are, Jess. You know we don't need any body else."

Jesse did nothing and then let out a huge sigh. The golden retriever left my side and began to climb the stairs to the boarding house.

"Jesse!" I said, stepping up the stairs to follow him. He didn't look at me, nor make any noise to let me know that he heard me at all, and yet I had a distinct feeling that he was thinking '_Joanna, you're a fool._'

My dog disappeared up the stairs.

_Fine, fine. _

If Jesse was so insistent, I'd apologize. But that certainly didn't mean that I'd have to _like _it.

Like a spoiled toddler, I stomped up the stairs and knocked on the door. There was silence, and I raised my hand to knock again before a very old man opened the door and glared at me.

Apparently I had woken him up from a very deep sleep… and was not too happy to be back in the land of the living.

"Yes?" He croaked. "Do you want a place to stay, boy?"

I said nothing for a second, my eyes bulging at the man that looked like could have fallen over and croaked at any second.

Jesse pushed his way through and disappeared into the darkness of the boarding room. "Well?" The old man said, looking very tired and very old. I nodded.

"Well then, get-," The man let out a huge yawn the size of Texas. "Get inside."

I ducked underneath his arm and he slapped me on the back genially, almost like he considered me a son already.

"Got to register you," he said, adjusting his glasses and grabbing his fountain pen. I leaned against the counter.

"Name?"

"Jonathan," I said.

"I need your last name, son," He said. Panicked, I spurted out that I didn't have one.

"No need to get defensive," the Old Geezer said. "Lots of boys don't have last names either. Well," the man said, closing his record book. "You're registered, then. Your bunk is 12B, next to Skittery Stakem. Get goin'," He started to move away from his desk.

"Wait," I said. "What should I call you?"

_Somehow I doubt 'Old Geezer' would not be acceptable._

The old geezer tapped the name plate. "Can't you read?"

"No," I said, feeling rather insulted. "I don't. Is that a problem?"

"Lordy," the man said, rubbing his temples. "A newsie that can't read,"

I remained silent.

"My name is Kloppman. We need to do something about you not being able to read…" and then more to himself than to me, he whispered "Ms. Van Wyck often does charity work…"

Oh God above, Van Wyck? Was I never to be rid of her? Choke me. I frowned.

"Well, get to bed. Ask a boy where 12B is." He turned away from me. "I'll wake you in the morning."

He handed me a pillow and a blanket, and pointed me to the stairs. I climbed, a little worried on what I might find… a furious Kid Blink and possibly that Mush guy as well…

And Jack… A smile crept on my lips. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad.

"'Ey," a boy said, "Is this your dog?"

"Yeah," I said, petting Jesse and smiling. Well, maybe Jesse would help me with making friends here...

"Dog's aren't allowed in here. Get him out, Crutchy's allergic."

…Or maybe elephants will fly out of my pants.

Glancing over at Kid Blink, who shot me a stare of death, I knew that I had dug myself pretty damn deep with this one.

I led Jesse outside. "I'll come back for you later, Jess." I said, kissing his head. He gave me a pleading look, but I could do nothing. "I'm sorry."

When I got back, the boys pointed me to 12-B, but not before leading me to 6B, 10B, 20B and 14B first…

As I climbed into my bunk, I turned away from the boys and buried my head in my pillow.

_I hate my life. I hate it here. I hate being a newsie._


End file.
